This study involves a comparative analysis of three police processing practices with respect to juvenile offenders--Diversion, Screening, and Referral to Juvenile Court. The diversion strategy, based primarily upon labeling theory, attempts to provide services to youth penetrating the juvenile justice system while avoiding the negative labeling thought to be associated with the juvenile justice system. Several basic propositions from labeling theory will be examined. Basic variables are negative labeling, perceived access to desirable social roles, self-esteem, alienation, and self-reported and official delinquency. A second objective involves a typological analysis and tests for possible interaction effects between offender types and processing modes. A final objective involves an analysis of the effects of diversion on police processing patterns. The study design involves a pretest-post test multiple control group design with either random assignment or precision matching. Basic analysis will involve analysis of covariance and/or residual gain score analysis, typological analysis, and analysis of variance.